Nearly half of soldiers say Army isn't committed to them

Nearly half of soldiers say Army isn't committed to them
Army Times
By Michelle Tan
Staff writer
August 21, 2013

Almost 50 percent of soldiers don’t believe the Army is committed to them, according to an annual leadership survey.

In a report released in July, the 2012 Center for Army Leadership Survey of Army Leadership showed that 47 percent of active-duty soldiers and 42 percent of reserve component soldiers agreed or strongly agreed that “the Army no longer demonstrates that it is committed to me as much as it expects me to be committed.”

This is a 6 percent increase — among troops in both components — since 2010, according to the report.

In addition, junior noncommissioned officers showed the highest level of agreement that they perceived “unequal commitment” between themselves and the Army — 58 percent of active-duty junior NCOs and 48 percent reserve component junior NCOs felt that way.

The survey report cites the uncertain future of the Army and the ongoing end-strength drawdown as possible reasons for how soldiers are feeling, adding that tracking this issue can provide leaders with early warning signs for “the potential cascading effects of uncertainty on lower morale, loss of quality leaders, and lack of unit cohesion.”
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Morale in Manning's unit suffered

Commander: Morale in Manning's unit suffered
BY DAVID DISHNEAU AND PAULINE JELINEK
Associated Press
Jun 28, 1:35 PM EDT

FORT MEADE, Md. (AP) -- Pfc. Bradley Manning's former commander in Iraq says he was stunned and morale among his troops "took a hit" after they learned Manning was suspected of leaking classified documents.

"The last thing I anticipated was an internal security breach from one of our own," Col. David Miller said Friday as the fourth week of Manning's court-martial drew to a close.

"My read of my staff at that time was it was like a funeral-like atmosphere fell over that crowd," said Miller, commander of the brigade in which Manning served as an intelligence analyst in 2010 in Iraq. "That's the best way I would describe it - they were angry, sad ... frustrated all at the same time."

Manning's fellow troops collectively felt the allegations were a blemish on the otherwise good work they'd done in the war zone, Miller said.
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Troop mental health suffering in Afghanistan

Troop Depression on Rise in Afghanistan
By PAULINE JELINEK – 6 hours ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. troop morale improved in Iraq last year, but soldiers fighting in Afghanistan suffered more depression as violence there worsened, an Army mental health report says.

And in a recurring theme for a force strained by its seventh year at war, the annual battlefield study found once again that soldiers on their third and fourth tours of duty had sharply greater rates of mental health problems than those on their first or second deployments, according to several officials familiar with the report.

All spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the findings ahead of the study's release Thursday.

The report was drawn from the work of a team of mental health experts who traveled to the wars last fall and surveyed more than 2,200 soldiers in Iraq and nearly 900 in Afghanistan. In the fifth such effort, the team also gathered information from more than 400 medical professionals, chaplains, psychiatrists, psychologists and other mental health workers serving with the troops.

Officials said they found rates of mental health problems such as anxiety, depression and post-combat stress were similar to those found the previous year in Iraq, when nearly 30 percent of troops on repeat tours said they suffered a problem.
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